Fate by Facebook
by samanddianefan10
Summary: Fastfoward a few years, and Ryan is taking stock of his life. He realizes what he's lost and decides to reconnect with an old friend via Facebook. Is it too late for second chances?


Ryan lay on the beach of Daytona, Florida, trying desperately to get the tan that he so desperately needed, knowing full well it would never happen. At forty, he had long accepted it that it was his lot in life to be pale and thin. He'd tried the gym route many times, but nothing had ever came from those attempts, except some pulled muscles and a few snickers from the girls he'd been showing off for in the first place. Served him right, he supposed.

It had been one heck of a year. His wife of three years had left him, and he knew it was his entire fault. He'd been a lousy husband. Spending all of his time at work, Ryan had never paid Amy all of the attention that she'd been craving from him. They'd talked about having kids, but he kept putting her off. There would be time, he'd reassured her. Little did he know fate had other plans for him.

It was funny. Sometimes whenever Amy brought up kids he would think about Kelly. No matter how many years would pass he could still hear her voice, the endless chatter, smell her flowery perfume, and remember the way she would say his name- Ry-an! She always lit up whenever he walked into the room; she would stop whatever she was doing and run over to embrace him and plant a kiss on his cheek, often leaving lipstick on his freshly shaven cheeks. He would scold her for it, but little did he know, those little things would stay with him long after Kelly Kapoor was gone.

Kelly. Ryan didn't know why he was thinking about her on this particular day underneath the hot Florida sun. Maybe it was because sunny days usually reminded him of her-she was so happy, so sunny, so warm. It used to drive him crazy, but he had to admit she wasn't so bad. It was kind of nice being around someone so positive. Amy was a positive person, too, but somehow it just wasn't the same. He loved Amy, and it hurt that she was gone, and he would always miss her, but just not in the same way that he missed Kelly. He didn't necessarily know if it was better or worse, just different.

With Amy he knew he had given it his best and it still wasn't good enough. He would be able to live with that for the rest of his life. But with Kelly, he hadn't given it his all. His heart wasn't in it. He'd used her for her body, for money, to kill time, to kill her spirit. She may have forgiven him time and time again, and he couldn't believe he'd gotten away with it for so long. But even now after all of these years he could see now there was more to Kelly than just a silly girl who wanted to get married and have babies. She was in love with him, despite his flaws and faults, she accepted him for who he was. Maybe he was no expert in love, but he knew that kind of woman didn't come along every day.

He looked down at his chest, and saw that he was definitely not getting anywhere with his tan, so he decided to go back to his hotel. The first thing he did after grabbing a shower was reach for his laptop. Unable to help himself, he typed in his Facebook account name and password, then search for friends. Under that, he typed in her name. One match came up.

There was her picture, her smile as bright as ever. Ryan stopped for a second, as memories flooded back to him. This was the woman who had been a major part of his life for nearly a decade. Time had been good to her. Looking at her status, it said "in a relationship." It figured. He should have known. Too much time had passed. What had he been expecting, for her to sit around and wait for him? Unable to help himself, he clicked on her photos, and saw a nice looking guy with his arms around Kelly. He was all right looking, Ryan decided, not exactly her type. Then again, what was her type? Did he really know her as well as he thought he had?

He found a picture of Kelly by herself, and he couldn't stop looking at it. He'd almost forgotten how her brown eyes sparkled when she laughed. That wasn't fair. This was his Kelly, not that mustached guy's, (Kelly hated facial hair, she hated when he had grown a beard). He had to do something. Clicking on message, his fingers shook as he wondered what he should say to her.

Kelly,

It's me. I really don't know what to say. I would really like to hear from you. I would love to know how you're doing. I hope you're happy. I miss you.

Ryan

Before he could change his mind, he hit the send button, then panic set in as he realized what he had done. What if that big bulky guy read her messages? He could easily throw Ryan across the room with one hand. Worse, what if Kelly hated him, and never wanted to hear from him again? Not that he could blame her. Even he had to admit he'd been a jerk.

Every day for two weeks he checked his Facebook almost every hour, hoping to hear back from Kelly. Finally he realized that she'd moved on, and so should he. She just didn't love him any more. Just as he had given up hope a message came back that he never thought that he would receive.

Ryan,

It's good to hear from you. I also hope you are doing well. I was surprised to hear from you- I thought you were dead. Ha ha. I am doing great, I am getting married soon, can you believe it? I bet you're relieved. No more pressure from me! How about you? Are you still enjoying the wild single life? No one here thinks you'll ever settle down. But I do. I think you'll find the right one and be a terrific husband and father. I believe in you.

Love always,

Kel

Ryan read that several times. He couldn't believe what he had read. Kelly, getting married. It couldn't be. He had to do something. She still loved him, she said so herself. She knew he wanted to get married and have kids. She was right. The only problem was he was supposed to get married and have babies with Kelly, and no one else. Why couldn't he have seen that before?

He went on and checked switchboard and typed in Kelly's name. He got her phone number. Good, he thought, she still lived there. He entered it into a reverse directory and got her address. After printing out directions, he packed his bags and made the longest trip of his life.

It was two a.m. when he got there. Only then did it occur that she might be living with her bodybuilding boyfriend and that he might get his head handed to him. He didn't care. He had to find out if Kelly still felt the same way about him that he did about her.

After ringing the doorbell, he looked around anxiously, hoping no one would call the cops. He rang it again. Kelly opened a window and looked down. "Who is it?"

"It's me. Ryan."

"Ryan? What in the world are you doing here?"

"I came to see you. Can you come down here so we can talk?"

"What for?"

"I really need to talk to you."

"Do you know what time it is?"

"Kelly please. I just drove like nine hours to tell you that I still love you and I really would like it if you came down here so we could discuss it face to face."

He could tell from the silence that she was expecting anything but that. The window closed, and a minute later the door was flung open.

"What did you say?"

"I said I still love you," Ryan smiled at her.

"How can you do this to me? Are you crazy? I tell you I'm getting married and you run into my life trying to make me feel like I'm losing my mind. You know how I feel about you Ryan. You know what I always wanted. I want marriage. I want babies. And now I have a man who wants that too. So just because you want what you can't have doesn't give you the right to come back into my life and destroy mine," Kelly yelled.

"Kelly, I want those things too. You're the only woman for me. I want you and I want marriage and I want babies-as long as you're the mother of my babies. I want beautiful, brown eyed babies who babble too much and who drive me crazy as much as you do. I've been through so much these past few years; it's taken me a lot to realize that you're the only one for me. I'm sorry I hurt you and I promise I will try my best to never hurt you again. I know I don't deserve it but will you give me another chance?"

Kelly's eyes filled with tears as she ran to Ryan and threw her arms around him. "I always knew you'd come back," she laughed.

"I love you,Kel," he said as he kissed her for the first time in a very long time.

"You'd better," she smiled. "I'm worth the wait."

"Yes," he agreed. "That you are."

The end


End file.
